Tuesday, 3 February 2009

Reasons to be Cheerful about the Evening Standard

I spent a large part of today trying to figure out how to use my webcam before spending an even larger part of the day trying to record something.

You should be able to watch the fruit of my labours on a certain telly programme later in the week.

In the short clip I point out that Lebedev will have a hard job making the Evening Standard "more wanted by Londoners" given that so many of us have been so totally alienated by it in recent years.

But given he's starting from such a low base, and given the fact that Wadley's already buggered orf to Keen-ya there's hope that a better, less divisive newspaper will emerge.

Of course I still have my concerns about Mr. KGB and Mr. Tatler, and I question quite what kinds of influence they are seeking to impose.

But despite this, there does seem to be some cause for optimism. Take these words sent to me today by one current member of staff:

"Geordie came in this afternoon and I think people were generally pretty impressed. He was very upbeat about the future and said that city, politics, the arts and breaking news were areas of interest, and (crucially for us) said it was about time we emerged from "the shadow of the Daily Mail". We're all still expecting some redundancies, but suspect they will involve a few expensive staff members rather than across-the-board cuts."

Now I know the chances that Geordie Grieg and/or Alexander Lebedev are reading this are pretty slim, but if you are reading, may I offer you some advice?

'Wadley must be distraught that she won't be there to complete her ambition to make the paper a freebie. She's also going to miss out on the next round of redundancies which is something she particularly enjoyed doing. Never was her deranged smile broader than when she was wielding the axe. Still, that big pay off might help with the pain.'

"Wadley listed some of the pivotal events of her tenure, including the London bombings in July 2007, the capital's successful Olympic bid, the downfall of former Mayor Ken Livingstone and the election of his successor Boris Johnson."